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The Media Learning Curve: Nov. 13-20

The Sports Business Journal reported this week (linked here) that the Los Angeles Daily News did not request any media credentials to cover the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Again, we’re the last to hear of these things.

The USOC issued 481 credentials to publications and Web sites, but had 135 returned, most by newspapers and traditional publications like Newsweek, which returned five of six credentials; The Dallas Morning News, which returned four of six; and the McClatchy’s Washington bureau, which returned seven credentials and kept four, the story said.

“I don’t know whether this is a spike or the way things will be for the future, but this is extremely unusual to get this many back,” said Bob Condron, the USOC’s director of media services. “The interest is there, no doubt, but the money is not.”

Get used to it.

(By the way, if you’re a blogger and wanted to win a “free press pass” to the Winter Games … as opposed to the ones that the real media has to buy … it’s too late. But read here what you missed out on).

Other stuff we knew, but didn’t know, until we saw it somewhere in print:

== Week 12 L.A. viewing for the college football fan (linked here). Sorry, you didn’t miss USC. It has a bye. And we already know that we’ll miss Cal-Stanford, because it’s on Versus, and we have DirecTV, which still hasn’t brought the channel back … but what if you were living in the Bay Area and really wanted to see it? Has the Gerhart hit the fan yet? If you really want to blame someone, blame Fox Sports Net for making the game available for Versus to buy off their inventory list. (linked here)

== Jim Gray had a 50th birthday party in Vegas … and Walton, West, Shula, Dr. J., Dickerson, Larry King … Ali? … all showed. What were their appearance fees? (linked here)

== Someone’s list of 25 football broadcasters — NFL and college — that doesn’t weed out the play-by-play men from the analysts, leaving everything in some kind of mish-mash disarray (linked here) but awards CBS’ Gary Danielson with the golden ticket. And here’s a rebuttal list (linked here).

== Another very good Dave Kindred list, this time of 50 things a sports writer should and shouldn’t do (linked here). No. 1 “Do” — go to the event you’re writing about. No. 1 “Don’t”: Never trust spellcheck.

== Does Larry King’s 10-year-old son, Chance, have a chance hosting a Fox Sports Net program? Even if its directed by Tom Arnold? (linked here)

== ESPN ombudsman Don Ohlmeyer rambles on about how the net dropped the ball on the Steve Phillips story … like we really care to hear any more of it (linked here)

== AND FINALLY:

== Obviously, if you’re a cameraman and you get too close to a bald guy following Bill Belichick off the field, you run the risk of having an iris rammed up your shutter:

== AND ONE LAST BUT NOT LEAST FINALLY:

== We were the guest on a Sports Media Journal podcast (linked here) with Keith Thibault and Ken Fang (of fangsbites.com). It’s a half hour of your time well wasted spent.

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